Jan 7
Chapter one of the book, Anthropocene, inspired me a lot, “No matter where you are and what you do, when you breathe to stay alive or enjoy time outside, when you eat vegetables or buy something made of iron or steel, you are inextricably liked to these revolutionaries” (15). As I think about this quote, I tried to imagine if this is true or false. When I thought about eating a hamburger since I was eating it for dinner, I could see the connection that the meat, vegetables, breads are all coming from other life existences. In other words, meat is from animal, vegetables are from the soil, and breads are mixture and final product of many other ingredients. Also, coke is from certain human-made product but some ingredients of coke are from the natural environment. With these thoughts, I was little surprised that how my life surroundings are all connected and amazed that human will not survive even a day without these connections. If one system in our environment fails, then that will affect all other system. From these thinking and stretching out more ideas and views challenged me to integrate my thinking. Also, I was able to expand my brain to catch if there are any other possibilities.
Jan 11
The ecological footprint exercise was fun and interesting. Choosing what I look like, country, home, meals, and so on, was interesting and also fascinated. By just clicking these questions, I got some result that how I use energy and how much resource needed. I used USA for the country. I got 4.9 planet Earths to provide enough resources if everyone was like me. I was shocked when I saw it since I did not know I was spending this much energy. In addition, to support my lifestyle, it takes 21.7 global acres of the Earth’s productive area. In other words, I use a lot of land in my life by myself. In doing this exercise, I felt shamed, and shocked that I was wasting many resources that other people could be used. When I did this exercise in different country, South Africa, with the similar answers to the question, the result was significantly different. Only 2.2 planets of earth was needed to regenerate the resources, and 3.9 global hectares of the Earth’s area was needed to support my lifestyle. I felt that the more developed countries use more unnecessary resources. In other words, I used too much environment and too much resource to maintain my daily life. By doing this, I realize that I need to save some energy and practice using less fuels. Also, I thought that thinking about the people in other side of the world who do not have what I have is important and critical. I could not help them directly but I could help them by donation or volunteer in some days. This footprint exercise not only provide the sense that how the world is different, but also the influence that I make to the Earth. It was stunning and gave me a lot of lessons.
Jan 12
As I read the slides, “Thinking in systems”, it inspired me in many ways. The way of explaining the systems stimulated my thoughts. My status as student, as daughter, as classmate, all of these could be explained as different systems. I have older brother and younger sister, and I am a student in University of Washington. In the class, Pol S 301, I am one of the students. Like this, I am included in different systems that initiate different feelings, thoughts, and emotions. However, within those different systems, I hold similar behavior throughout the interconnection among systems. I like the explanation quote, “Many interconnections in systems operate though the flow of information. Information holds systems together and play a great role in how they operate” (slide). This gave me a thought that all of the action, behavior, thinking, and gesture connects together to provide my own characteristic and goals. As I concentrated to think myself about what are my systems, and my characteristic, it connected to what my status I stand. For example, leaning from the school affects me to integrate my knowledge, and the lessons from childhood life advanced my behavior. All of these interconnections in my life change my thoughts, emotions, and behavior.